


These Strange Steps

by Boxxsaltz



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/F, Fluff, OT3, Polyamory, Romance, wenjoyrene
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21840802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boxxsaltz/pseuds/Boxxsaltz
Summary: Of how Wendy, Joy, and Irene came to be. The in-betweens and days to come.
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Son Seungwan | Wendy, Park Sooyoung | Joy/Son Seungwan | Wendy, Park Sooyoung | Joy/Son Seungwan | Wendy/Bae Joohyun | Irene
Comments: 10
Kudos: 100





	1. The Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is a compilation of moments in the wenjoyrene|polyverse headcanon thread originally posted on my twitter.

When they curl up in bed, Wendy is always in the middle.  
  
Sometimes Irene is behind her, arm slung over her hip and chin on the back of Wendy’s head where she can easily kiss the crown with Joy in front who likes to hunker down low so she can rest her head against Wendy’s chest.  
  
Or it’s reversed and Irene strokes Wendy’s hair while she’s cradled into her and Joy cocoons around Wendy with enough limbs to spare to touch her unnie as well.  
  
It doesn’t matter though. Wendy is always in the middle.  
  
It’s not just in bed either. When they walk, when they eat out, when they go to the movies or pile into a cab, Wendy’s place is between them. It’s just right that way.  
  
Joy is a big tease. She picks on Wendy the most but Irene isn’t spared either.  
  
Joy likes to rile Wendy up, bait her into pointless arguments just to see her flush and get her going. She only stops when she sees Wendy’s starting to actually get hurt or Irene sends her a warning glare. Or tells her to hush.   
  
Joy knows not to cross the line with Irene but she treads very close to it. It ends when Irene says her name in_ that_ tone. She knows better than to try her luck  
  
Irene is the unofficial protector. People think it’s Joy but Irene really is. She quietly watches out for them. She knows their likes and dislikes. She knows when they’re upset or feeling good or tired. She knows them inside and out and she knows how to keep them safe  
  
Wendy is the heart of the three. She spills out her affections the most readily. And it’s infectious. She’s why they’re all together. She’s why they sit down and talk about things when something doesn’t feel right because she wants everyone to be happy and she wants everyone to feel the amount of love she feels from them.  
  
Joy is the drive. She brings the synergy and the excitement. She pulls Wendy out of her soft shell and exposes her greasier and sexier side and she helps to deconstruct Irene’s protective walls so her gooey center shows. If they have an argument or dispute, Joy is the first to break the petty silence and deal with it because she can’t stand bad vibes and she can’t kiss them when they’re mad at her.  
  
But before this there were—

-/-/-/-

**_The Beginnings_**  
  
Wendy was seeing Joy first.  
  
They met in uni. Joy was your typical party girl and Wendy was the focused study girl. They ended up rooming in an apartment together because money.  
  
They didn’t get along at first. Wendy nagged Joy a lot about being too loud and not being responsible. Joy thought Wendy was a stuck up little bitch.  
  
Things changed one night when Wendy overhears Joy having a conversation with her mom. Joy is in tears and she tells her mom she doesn’t want to go to school anymore. Classes are hard, people who she thought were her friends backstabbed her, if she doesn’t get her grades up she’ll be kicked out the program but even with how much she studies she can’t seem to be getting better, and to top it all off her roommate sucks!  
  
Wendy realizes then that she hadn’t seen Joy completely. She starts to be kinder. Nagging less. She realizes Joy spends a lot of time studying and partying is an escape. Some nights she comes home late because she was studying only for her friends to drag her out. She even bakes Joy “I’m sorry” cupcakes and leaves them for Joy to find on her own.  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
**1\. Cupcakes**  
  
It was late when Sooyoung got in. Her backpack was heavy on her shoulders and her feet dragged her into her room where she tossed it onto her bed and flopped down herself.  
  
She was exhausted. Deep into her bones. She had half a mind to stay where she was and let sleep take her but the incessant nagging in her stomach had a different idea in mind.  
  
Sliding off the mattress, she headed for the kitchen. Ramyun would do. Or maybe she still had gimbap left over from the other day. Going for the fridge, she stopped short when something on the counter caught her attention.  
  
It was a platter. A platter of cupcakes. She wasn’t surprised to see a platter of baked goods. Her roommate was notorious for stress baking. What was surprising was what the letters squeezed out over cream cheese frosting spelled out.  
  
_I’M SORRY_  
  
She rolled her eyes. What even? Picking up a folded piece of cardstock left beside the sweets, she thumbed it open.  
  
_Classes are stressful, aren’t they? I promise I won’t nag you about your dirty dishes too much anymore. Please accept this peace offering.  
—Your Roommate Wendy_  
  
Joy wished it didn’t make her crack a smile. Wished that her eye roll was as cold as the winter air that blew outside, leaving her cheeks red and her nose runny. Wished the icing that she tasted off the tip of her finger didn’t taste so good. But it did and something in her warmed at the idea of her picky roommate making her apologetic cupcakes.  
  
Hunger curbed and showered, Sooyoung found an old lipstick that she never used with a wicked grin on her lips.  
  
_WE’RE NOT EVEN YET  
—The Bane of Your Existence_  
  
Satisfied, she shut off the lights to their shared bathroom and headed for bed.  
  
Maybe her roommate wasn’t so bad after all  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
And that’s how it starts.  
  
They go back and forth with these little messages. Wendy wishes Joy goodluck on a test, Joy tells her she would do better if the nerd (Wend) wouldn’t hog all her brains. Wendy leaves study sheets on the breakfast table. Joy repays her by washing the dishes and maybe buys her favorite pack of ramyun.  
  
It goes on and on and smiley faces turn to hearts and notes left around turn into text messages into phone calls into actual conversations in their apartment and study sessions and cooking dinners together and movie nights.  
  
They sort of fall into it. Each other. It’s not for sure who catches it first but Joy is a short fuse and Wendy isn’t that bold so it’s Joy who kisses her on the cheek first.  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
**2\. Pecks**  
  
Her elbows knocked against the counter, a pout on her lips. All Joy wanted was to help make the cake Wendy insisted on making to thank their landlord for giving them an extension. It wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t good at measurements or reading the labels between flour and baking soda resulting in the first batter having to be thrown out and redone.  
  
But Wendy was good at it so maybe Joy wasn’t too peeved that she’d been banned to being simply an onlooker. And maybe she wasn’t too peeved about being an onlooker because Wendy was always sort of cute when she concentrated on something while simultaneously trying to give Joy pointers on the process.  
  
She hardly heard the notes she was giving. She was too caught up on the patch of flour on Wendy’s chin and the strands of hair that had fallen from their place that wiggled in front of her eyes.  
  
Reaching up, Joy brushed one of the stray strands away, fingers grazing the shell of Wendy’s ear causing her to stutter in her movements.  
  
“Sorry,” she muttered.  
  
Wendy cleared her throat and kept going, stumbling over her words—more of which Joy didn’t hear because she was curious about the blush that had filled those rounded cheeks while her own chest had gone tight and her stomach was fluttering from that simple touch to Wendy’s skin. The skin she’d wanted to touch for so long, to feel under the pads of her fingers or against her.....  
  
Joy bit her lip, eyes snapping to moving pink lips. They’d been on her mind lately. Every study session, every night they watched something together, when Wendy accidentally got toothpaste on the corners while she rushed to get ready in the morning. Her thoughts were filled with Wendy in places she never expected the girl to creep into.  
  
“Are you paying attention?” Wendy asked with a huff. It was hard to take a reprimand from her. She was too adorable. Too sweet. Too kind. Too loving.  
  
Joy couldn’t take it anymore. Standing up straight, she pressed her lips to Wendy’s.  
  
The girl instantly froze.  
  
The sight should’ve been a win. The way Wendy’s entire face turned red and her shoulders tensed up and her eyes got all big when she turned them up to Joy who was trying her best to look innocent. But she only felt panic, however. It burned through her, from neck to toes, and she wished she could melt into the spaces in the tiled kitchen floor.  
  
“What was that?” asked Wendy barely above a whisper. Shock. She was in shock. Now Joy was really panicking.  
  
Her defenses flared. “What do you mean what was that?”  
  
“What did you just do?”  
  
“I don’t know!” She crossed her arms over her chest trying to fight embarrassment with anything else. “Why are you making it a big deal?”  
  
Wendy floundered. “I’m not.”  
  
“Yes, you are!”  
  
“No, I’m not!”  
  
“Ugh, I hate you. Worst roommate ever!”  
  
Spinning around, she stormed off missing the hand that reached out to catch her from behind.  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Somehow Wendy musters enough courage to return the peck before she leaves the couch to go to her bedroom. She just wanted to say goodnight, top it off with a kiss, and run away. But Joy doesn’t let her. And she finds herself pulled down into Joy’s lap with Joy’s lips on hers.  
  
“You’re still the worst roommate.”  
  
And that’s that.  
  
But then...there’s Irene.  
  
Wendy is the one who meets her. Landing a new job, she does her best to impress and shoots up the ladder fairly quickly. She’s partnered with Irene who is heading a big project and she’s all nerves because the project is huge and this could mean another step up with a raise and a bonus and maybe her own office. But that’s not the only reason why she’s nervous. Irene is sharp and competitive and a little intimidating and...gorgeous?  
  
She tries to ignore that last part and focus on the job.  
  
The more time they spend together the more Wendy gets to know Irene and she’s in awe with this woman’s poise and her determination but she also is quite strict. Wendy starts to feel like she doesn’t match up and she’s starting to stress out and—  
  
“Would you like to get coffee?” Irene asks one evening while they’re going over their work. It’s one of those mornings and she’s seriously feeling inadequate.  
  
Wendy agrees with a blush. She tries to pay for the drinks but,  
  
“I insist,” Irene presses.  
  
It’s the first time they’ve done something outside of the workspace and Wendy isn’t sure what to do with herself. It’s just coffee between workmates she’s sure. It is...right?  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
**3\. Coffee**  
  
Sunlight fought against the screens draped over the coffee shop windows. Wendy thought they would pick up their macchiato and americano and head back but Irene veered from the exit and sat then down at a table.  
  
It’s nice, Wendy thought. With the caffeine, she could feel the rusty gears in her brain start working again and she felt energy and sense makes its way back in.  
  
“It’s stressful, isn’t it?” Irene asked suddenly. Her chin was rested on the heel of her hand as she peered out the window. She blinked and the fringe of her bangs, caught in the hairs, twitched with it. “The project?” she clarified.  
  
Wendy cleared her throat and tore her gaze away that was tracing the shape of Irene’s forehead, to her nose, to her lips. A quiet beauty, that’s what the others whispered in the office. Nothing about Irene’s beauty was quiet however.  
  
“It is.”  
  
“You’re doing well.” She finally turned to meet Wendy’s eyes. She was wearing circle wireframes today. They made her all the more astute and made Wendy notice the shape of her eyes that much more. “I’m hard on you because that’s what they want me to be.”  
  
“That’s what it is?” Relief pooled into her gut. “All this time I thought you didn’t like me very much.”  
  
“I like you.”  
  
The relief in her stomach turned to waves of static.  
She wasn’t sure why. Maybe because Irene was always unfailingly honest and she always delivered everything with a straight face. Wendy couldn’t always handle those looks. No matter how simple they were.  
  
“You have potential,” Irene continued. “They see it. I won’t allow you to fail.”  
  
“So, I’m not just competition?” she asked shyly.  
  
Irene tilted her head, a curious expression on her face. “You never were.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
It’s the reassurance she needs and Wendy decides to buy them pastries. The sugar melts things and Irene softens up a bit after that. Wendy finds out that Irene isn’t all hard lines. She has her moments. She smiles and she makes jokes and she flutters her lashes and she knows how to make the coffee at the office not taste like trash.  
  
And on the day they present the project with positive feedback and praise from the suits and are packing up to call it a day Irene tells her,  
  
“It doesn’t have to be over.”  
  
“It doesn’t?”  
  
“We could continue.” She hums like she’s trying to find the right way to say what she wants next. “Maybe at my place?”  
  
Wendy knows the meaning of those words. They make her stomach flip and her heart flutter and it’s so confusing and scary that she makes up a terrible excuse and fumbles with her words and gets the hell out of there.  
  
She’s so freaked out about the way she reacted and how Irene has been making her feel that she tells Joy. She has to tell Joy. And Joy asks,  
  
“Do you like her?”  
  
“I don’t know. No! I like you. I love you.”  
  
But then Wendy gets curious. Because Irene still makes her feel things and she needs to understand so she starts searching. She’s heard about people having multiple partners so she researched and she realizes maybe that’s what she is. Maybe.  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
**4\. Talks**  
  
It had to be the hardest thing Wendy had ever done. But the words were out there and all she had to do was wait for what she said to process and Joy to stop looking at her like she had grown a second head.  
  
“You want to...see other people?” Joy’s brow creased even deeper.  
  
Wendy finally sat down, joining Joy at the dining table. All the nerves she had before that made her antsy had dulled after she blurted everything about Irene. She could finally sit still again. “It’s not what it sounds like.”  
  
Joy’s eyes narrowed. “What do you think it sounds like?”  
  
“Like I want them in place of you,” she mumbled.  
  
“You don’t?”  
  
“No!” Wendy blanched. She knew it would come across that way and she hated that Joy would think that of her. “I’m in love with you. But I can also love someone else. The same way.” She reached out, taking one of Joy’s hands into hers, holding it with firm reassurance. “Nothing is lost between us because of them and they don’t get parts of me that you don’t.”  
  
“So, like some threesome on steroids,” said Joy. Seungwan cracked a smile and the hand in hers yanked away in a huff. “Why are you laughing? This is serious!”  
  
“I know! I’m sorry.” Wendy sobered and took Joy’s hand again, thumb stroking across her knuckles to soothe her. “I just want to try it. But only if you’re okay with it. It would be casual.”  
  
“For now.”  
  
Wendy frowned at her calloused tone. “If you’re not okay with it—“  
  
“I’m not not okay with it.” Joy chewed on her lip. “It’s weird.” She shrugged and Wendy could see her initial defenses coming down to show her true feelings. “I never thought you would be the one to be so..._unconventional.”_ She snorted and Wendy echoed her amusement in a soft smile. She was right. “I’m not stupid, I know other people do this. I know your heart is bigger than the damn moon”—she rolled her eyes— “and I trust you.”  
  
“But?”  
  
Joy shook her head. There were no buts. “You can see her.”  
  
“Really?” She blinked. She started this conversation in hopes Joy would say that but hearing it was something different. It made her nervous.  
  
“But no secrets.” She gave her a pointed look. “And we have to take this slow.”  
  
Wendy nodded. She could do that. “Causal.”  
  
“I don’t want you to sleep with her.” She shifted in her seat then added a muttered, “Yet.”  
  
Heat exploded in her chest and her stomach fluttered. “I’m not ready for that.”  
  
Joy let out a breath. “I can’t believe this. I don’t know who you are anymore.”  
  
“Joy...”  
  
“I’m joking.” She smirked and squeezed Wendy’s hand. “I guess I’m not the only wild one.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
They take it slow. Wendy goes on one date with Irene and Joy is so nervous about it she asks her to come home early. They talk about it and Joy relaxes and Wendy and Irene eventually go out again. It’s two more dates and Joy can’t take it anymore.  
  
“I...I don’t know her. I don’t know anything about her. I want to meet her.”  
  
“Meet her?”  
  
“I _need_ to meet her.”  
  
Wendy decides that’s fair and so they meet. It’s all together and Irene is on full guard the entire night and Joy is judging the hell out of Irene.  
  
“Her hair is too perfect,” is what Joy has to say about Irene.  
  
“A little headstrong,” Irene says about Joy.  
  
It’s not easy by any means. But Joy sees that Irene isn’t a psychopath or trying to steal Wendy for herself and Irene realizes what she’s getting into is something serious and she has to figure out if it is something that she wants to do.  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
**5\. Questions**  
  
It was in the middle of them preparing dinner. The three of them cramped into the kitchen. Joy was more a distraction than she was help, asking pointless questions and moving equipment just to get a rise out of Wendy who Irene tried to help.  
  
It was in the middle of it all that Irene felt it. Something deep in her stomach bubbling upward. She had felt it before. She tried fighting it before. But she couldn’t anymore and she couldn’t take this. Not now.  
  
It was a couple minutes before they realized she was gone, slipped out onto the balcony where the cool night time breeze brushed her cheeks.  
  
“Hey.” It was Wendy. Of course it would be. “What’s wrong?”  
  
The words got stuck in Irene’s throat. How was she supposed to articulate it? Everything from Wendy to Joy was new. She didn’t know how to put words to it or how to navigate her heart through it.  
  
But she had to answer. Transparency. That’s what they agreed upon. So she took a breath.  
  
“This isn’t what we agreed on,” she admitted. “This was supposed to be casual.”  
  
Because in times like this, Irene felt it so strong. That maybe she was starting to fall in love with Wendy. And maybe Joy had stolen a morsel of her heart and gobbled it up before she could stop it from happening.  
  
“I thought so, too,” said Wendy.  
  
A lump formed in Irene’s throat as she turned to look at Wendy. The balcony patio light lit up her pretty face like the moon and in the distance she could hear Joy yelling for them to, “hurry and come back losers!”—her voice and attitude as strong and true as any wind. Her chest warmed. These two...  
  
“I wasn’t supposed to get attached.”  
  
A smile found way onto Wendy’s face. “Is that so bad?”  
  
“I don’t know.”  
  
There was no more denying it. No more trying to pretend that this wasn’t a good thing they had. This was something that Irene had never felt and possibly didn’t want anything else. She found what she wanted. Who she needed. Crazy that it wasn’t just in one person but it was in two.  
  
“I don’t want to mess this up. You and Joy...”  
  
Wendy took one of her hands and curled her fingers into hers. A soft and comforting touch.  
  
“You haven’t messed us up. You never could.” She laughed softly to herself. Something light and a little shy. “You’ve made us better.”  
  
Irene’s gaze ducked. She wasn’t the embarrassed type but all the flooding emotions made her vulnerable and bare. “Really?”  
  
Wendy nodded. “We love you, too.”  
  
She blinked, mouth parting in surprise. Wendy leaned in to kiss the shock right off her lips, sealing her words with a promise of truth and reassurance.  
  
“Come back inside.” Wendy pulled away toward the sliding door. “Stay.”  
  
Irene knew she meant more than just tonight. And so she walked back inside deciding that she would do just that. Stay.  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
It takes some time, but Irene soon finds her place of belonging in the couple. She earns Joy’s full trust and she relents to her love for Wendy. Wendy is in the middle, shared between the two and it works. It works so well that they’re all surprised  
  
After about a year, Joy tells Wendy,  
  
“I want to try, too.”  
  
And it goes from Irene and Joy just seeing Wendy to all three of them seeing each other in their own sort of dynamic.  
  
They move into a larger place for the three of them and they navigate the newness of this triad. From the good the bad and the ugly. And that’s that.  
  
Joy is happy with the love she gains from the two. Wendy is at peace with the acceptance and the comfort she finds with them. Irene cherishes the trust and growth that they share.


	2. Those Mornings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Rating M] In the early morning hours, sometimes Joohyun can’t help herself.

In the early morning hours, sometimes Joohyun can’t help herself. Seungwan is bed warm, back pressed to Joohyun’s front, and her hair washed the night before fills her nose with the scent of blossoms in the spring. Her skin is soft and she presses her nose against it followed by lips in the space behind her ears.

Sooyoung wakes up next, face leaving the cushion of Seungwan’s chest where her heartbeat had soothed her to sleep. She sees Joohyun kiss Seungwan’s earlobe and she smiles. It’s one of those mornings and she loves them. Loves the chain reaction. Loves the way Joohyun blushes when she notices she’s been caught and Sooyoung gives her that snagged smirk.

Seungwan stirs minutes later. She’s warm. She’s trapped between bodies that form around her in a safe cocoon. The soft touch of lips tickles the side of her neck and a hand palms gently at her stomach. There’s sleep in her eyes still clinging to her lids but she sees Sooyoung smiling up at her and her lips move in a quiet, “good morning,” before she disappears and lips touch her sternum, kissing lightly. Seungwan’s stomach jolts. It’s one of _those_ mornings.

She doesn’t complain. She doesn’t want to. She doesn’t protest. She doesn’t want to.

Seungwan closes her eyes and lets the guide of Joohyun’s finger lead her to a mouth. Joohyun’s morning kisses are sloppy and damp. A little desperate. They bubble heat at the base of Seungwan’s gut that joins the electricity from the nibble Sooyoung gives to an erected peak.

Seungwan’s hand moves on its own, encouraging Sooyoung to continue. To add to the pressure. To suck on her sweetly. To lavish her with hot kisses. She does and Seungwan’s chest heaves, her breaths painting Joohyun’s lips that have pulled into a smile as her hand travels down.

Seungwan’s knees part and Sooyoung instinctively slots her leg between them to hold her open for Joohyun’s fingers to easily slide against her.

They soar into heat—into dampness. Seungwan sighs out loud and her body shivers with goosebumps. She was always a little more sensitive in the morning. A little more needy.

Joohyun takes care of her without the teasing. Sooyoung is right there with her, adding to the inferno and drawing her to the edge with each languid stroke of her tongue and prick of teeth.

Kisses smother her neck, dipping into the most sensitive of parts and Seungwan cannot help but to whimper.

Her hips move on their own and Sooyoung grips onto her, slides her hand back and palms at her rear, the action guiding her harder against Joohyun’s strokes.

Nothing fills her and that’s okay. She’s already filled to the brim from their affection and their care. From the way Joohyun whispers to her—“that’s it, beautiful one. you’re so close, love. we have you, princess—to the gentle hums and kisses Sooyoung paints across her chest.

It doesn’t take much. Doesn’t take long. She’s a panting mess of heat quickly taken over. Her insides burst and her heart spills. She grips Sooyoung’s nightshirt like a lifeline and bucks against Joohyun’s fingers like it’s air that she needs.

She shudders through waves and relaxes with limp bones. Sooyoung smooths hair from her face while Joohyun rubs circles against her stomach, calming her down.

It’s burning up but she doesn’t want to break away. Doesn’t want to shatter this moment just yet.

“Sorry we woke you,” says Joohyun.

Sooyoung chuckles. “No, she’s not.”

Seungwan grins. Sooyoung is right but she appreciates Joohyun’s apology.

“You owe me five more minutes,” she says and threads her fingers through Joohyun’s that rest against her stomach.

“We’ll be good.” Sooyoung drapes an arm over them both, holding them all securely together.

Seungwan rests her face into Sooyoung’s chest this time. “Promise?”

She smiles when she hears them both give a soft,

“Promise.”


End file.
